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29th September 2005 Archive

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  • Gizmondo firm goes to Nasdaq

    Looking for 'larger investor base'

    Tiger Telematics (TT), the Florida-based company behind the Gizmondo handheld games console, has posted its annual report for the year to 31 December 2004. It makes fascinating reading - particularly since the company yesterday announced its plan to begin trading its stock on Nasdaq. To date it has been an OTC stock. Last year …

    Financial News 29 Sep 2005, 05:53

  • IBM gives blades 4Gbit/s zip

    Plug and chug

    IBM has recruited a pair of networking chums to help slot a 4Gbit/s switch into its blade server chassis. To bring the blade/switch combo to life, IBM will use a 4Gbit/s HBA from QLogic. That HBA will connect BladeCenter servers with 4Gbit/s switches from either McData or QLogic. The switches then link to IBM’s TotalStorage …

    Servers 29 Sep 2005, 05:55

  • It's space, Jim (but not as we know it)

    Voyager 1's intrepid mission into the heliosheath

    As Voyager 1 spacecraft speeds through the outermost boundary of our solar system it is tearing clods out of our understanding of the universe, say mission scientists. Researchers at the University of Maryland's Institute for Physical Science and Technology confirmed in Science last week that Voyager 1 had crossed the …

    Science 29 Sep 2005, 07:05

  • Nobel laureate to address London students

    Aiming for inspiration

    Nobel prize-winning chemist Professor Aaron Ciechanover is set to give a talk about human disease and anticancer drug development to 120 scientists of the future. The students, all studying for their A-levels or the equivalent, come from schools across London, and all say they want to go on to study chemistry at university. …

    Science 29 Sep 2005, 07:06

  • Public sector IT pros have their say

    More caring, less sharing

    Despite efforts to attract more IT professionals into government, industry is still widely seen a more attractive place to work than the UK public sector, according to the findings of new market research. While those in public IT are strong advocates for the benefits of working in the sector, the prospect of better pay would …

    IT Director 29 Sep 2005, 07:10

  • US deploys global IP strategy

    USPTO launches three-pronged attack

    The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is rapidly becoming the cornerstone of US global hegemony, and this week a new initiative, supposedly from US President George Bush, and talked up by US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, was intended to push the intellectual property agenda overseas. There are three new initiatives …

    Music and Media 29 Sep 2005, 08:50

  • Microsoft revamps adCenter for MSN

    Doing a Google

    A thought has been torturing Microsoft of late, and that thought emerges from the business model of Google. Microsoft has long pioneered the idea of giving away a new application as an "operating system feature" and cornering a market. Google gives away applications because it always leaves a door open for advertisers to benefit …

    Financial News 29 Sep 2005, 08:51

  • eDonkey seeks sanctuary

    Can't afford the lawyer

    The company behind eDonkey, MetaMachine, is getting out of the file sharing business according to its boss Sam Yagan. Yagan disclosed the news in testimony to Congress, Extreme Tech reports. Yagan said he is responding to a cease-and-desist notice served by the Recording Industry Ass. of America to several P2P networks. "I …

    Music and Media 29 Sep 2005, 09:55

  • 2.5G mobile data is crap - Orange exec

    CTIA And consumers don't want it. So there.

    Who this week said that GPRS is "slow and cumbersome, and nobody wants to use it on a mobile or laptop." Intel? Flarion? Or a Wi-Fi lobbyist, perhaps? No, actually it was Orange's chief of partner operations, Steve Glagow, giving an insight into how Orange views the mobile data market. Steve was speaking at an SD Forum event …

    Mobile 29 Sep 2005, 09:58

  • LG to ship notebook fuel cell in 12 months

    First to market?

    LG will be the first company to commercialise a portable fuel-cell system for notebook computers within a year, the company has pledged. Developed by LG subsidiary LG Chem, the fuel cell comprises a reaction vessel and removable 200cc methanol fuel reservoir. Together, they can generate 25W of power for more than ten hours. The …

    Peripherals 29 Sep 2005, 10:06

  • Unseemly 'elitism' row rocks PrepCom3

    Government-only meetings provoke ire

    Frustration with an elitist approach taken by governments at the crucial PrepCom3 meeting in Geneva boiled over yesterday. In two strongly worded interventions, first the civil society and then the private sector condemned the decision taken in some meetings to exclude everyone but government officials. Ayesha Hassan, …

    Financial News 29 Sep 2005, 10:06

  • Congress mulls 'post-Grokster' legislation

    Considering the coup de grâce

    The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday welcomed testimony from parties seeking the legislative final solution to P2P networks during a Capitol Hill hearing confidently entitled "Protecting Copyright and Innovation in a Post-Grokster World." The labels are clearly encouraged by the recent Supreme Court decision in MGM vs …

    Music and Media 29 Sep 2005, 10:08

  • Ballmer and Gates make a million

    Hardest working men in IT

    Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer have finally joined their high-tech peers by scoring annual salaries in the one million dollar range. Microsoft's chief software architect and chief executive officer were paid $1m during the last fiscal year after each receiving a $400,000 bonus on their $600,000 salaries. Both men were previously …

    IT Director 29 Sep 2005, 10:11

  • Webcam used to 'babysit kids'

    Mum quizzed by police

    Police are questioning a Cambridgeshire mother who allegedly used a webcam to keep an eye on her three children while she went on a jaunt to Germany. The woman, who hasn't been named, was arrested yesterday on "suspicion of child abandonment and neglect", the BBC reports. She kept in touch with her children aged 13, 10 and …

    Music and Media 29 Sep 2005, 10:11

  • Poker firm begins trading

    Place yer bets on 888

    Shares in 888 began trading this morning following the IPO of the online casino. The share price was set at 175p valuing the gambling operation at £590m ($1.04bn). At one stage in the run up to the float the company was estimated to be worth between £700 and £800m. However, the enthusiasm for internet gaming took a knock four …

    Financial News 29 Sep 2005, 10:13

  • Peru's parliament approves pro-open source bill

    'Bill here. Get Steve on a flight to Lima'

    Legislators in Peru have approved a hotly contested bill sanctioning use of open source software by government and levelling the playing field for start-ups against Microsoft. The Peruvian Congress has passed a bill that prohibits any public institution from buying systems that tie users into any particular type of software or …

    Applications 29 Sep 2005, 10:15

  • Ex-AMD man fined $1m over bribery scandal

    Seagate, STMicro former workers jailed and fined too

    A former AMD inventory planner was yesterday sent to prison for more than three years for accepting bribes totalling $1m from Citiraya Industries, a Singaporean electronics recycler. Ex-employees from Seagate, STMicro and 3M were also sentenced by the Singaporean court to jail terms of four weeks, 13 months and four weeks, …

    PCs 29 Sep 2005, 10:16

  • Mobile beheading clip man jailed

    Shock and urggh

    A man who showed an Iraqi beheading clip to a hotel worker was jailed for 60 days yesterday. Subhan Younnis, 23, caused Charlotte Cray distress when he played the footage on his mobile during a conversation with her in a shop in Glasgow's Moathouse Hotel last September, Glasgow district court heard. Younnis pleaded guilty to a …

    Mobile 29 Sep 2005, 10:18

  • NHS to probe students' lung function

    All in the name of Healthcare Science Week

    In a bid to promote careers in science and medicine, particularly in the NHS, physiologists are compiling a snapshot survey of the general health of the nation's youth. The idea is that the project will help students understand how scientists use measurements, analysis and results to reach conclusions for diagnoses and treatment …

    Science 29 Sep 2005, 10:31

  • 'We Are The Champions' voted world's fave song

    A million flies can't be wrong - eat at Joe's

    Anyone who believes that increasing cultural globalisation will inevitably lead to a dumbing down of consumers' critical faculties has been proved right on the button by a Sony Ericsson poll of 700,000 "music lovers" in 66 countries which has voted Queen's We Are The Champions the world's favourite song. Britney's Toxic crooned …

    Bootnotes 29 Sep 2005, 10:32

  • Nvidia unveils SLi-capable GeForce Go 7800GTX

    Leaked slides, spec confirmed

    Nvidia unveiled its first GeForce 7 series mobile graphics chip last night, as expected. The GeForce Go 7800GTX incorporates the latest generation of Nvidia's pixel processing and video enhancement technologies, CineFX 4.0 and PureVideo 2.0. Intellisample 4.0 and UltraShadow II are in the mix too. The 7800GTX can process up to …

    System Builder 29 Sep 2005, 11:07

  • Tritium-fuelled watches debut at Cash'n'Carrion

    Cash'n'Carrion Glow-in-the-dark timepieces

    Our old mate tritium - as featured in the now legendary Glowring - has resurfaced at Reg merchandising tentacle Cash'n'Carrion, but this time in a more useful role than simply providing an entertaining keyring with which to amaze your friends. Yes indeed, a small, atomically-powered round of applause if you please for the Nite …

    Site News 29 Sep 2005, 11:18

  • iRiver T20 512MB digital music player

    Review Too small?

    You've got to hand it to iRiver. Faced with Apple's iconic iPod, the company hasn't tried to emulate its rival by devising a single, clear product identity around which to build its range. Instead, it's gone for a scattergun approach: fire off lots of different models and hope some of them stick to consumers. Enter the T10, T20 …

    Reviews 29 Sep 2005, 11:32

  • Arctic sea ice gone within a century?

    Polar habitats threatened by thaw

    Researchers from NASA and the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) have warned that the arctic ice cap could completely disappear within a century, after a satellite survey this summer revealed ice cover was at its lowest level ever. Sea ice coverage was just 2.06m square miles, the scientists said, which is around 20 …

    Science 29 Sep 2005, 11:40

  • Warning over unattended PC peril

    Who's been looking at my spreadsheets?

    Unattended PCs are becoming the focus of insider attacks, according to Gartner. It reckons "someone else must have used my PC" has become a typical defence to accusations of improper online behaviour. Gartner advised businesses to implement 'timeouts' for all PCs to ensure that users are automatically logged out of application …

    Enterprise Security 29 Sep 2005, 12:42

  • Ofcom acts to protect consumers

    NTS number consultation

    Ofcom wants to cut the cost of calls to some non-geographic numbers because of concerns that consumers are being ripped off. The numbers (0870 and 0845) which are used by call centres, travel enquiries and banks, for example, can cost up to 10p a minute to call - three times the cost of a BT national rate call. The …

    Telecoms 29 Sep 2005, 12:45

  • RIM looks to strong H2 as Q2 income slips

    Expects 5m subscribers by March 2006

    Research in Motion (RIM) today forecast its push email service would surpass 5m subscribers by the end of its financial year, up from the 3.65m it said it had at the end of its second quarter of fiscal 2006. For the three months to 27 August 2005, RIM reported revenues of $490.1m, up eight per cent sequentially and 58 per cent …

    Financial News 29 Sep 2005, 13:11

  • New ISS crew, plus tourist, readies for launch

    Package holiday

    The next crew of the International Space Station is preparing to launch on 1 October from Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. When the Soyuz rocket launches, the astronaut and the cosmonaut will be joined by a private citizen, 60-year-old Dr. Gregory Olsen. Olsen, described as a scientist and businessman, will be the third …

    Science 29 Sep 2005, 13:16

  • BEA buys into open source tools

    A richer, finer blend

    BEA Systems is buying tools vendor M7 in a deal calculated to expand BEA's popularity among developers by combining support for open and closed source software. BEA plans to merge its existing WebLogic Workshop Java web services environment with M7's NitroX integrated development environment (IDE) to deliver BEA Workshop for …

    Developer 29 Sep 2005, 13:17

  • Brit chef trousers $1m poker prize

    Amateur sharp sees off US opposition

    A British chef has trousered $1m after seeing off eight US competitors in the final of Paradise Poker's "Million Dollar Freeroll". Chef Lee Biddulph, 28, has only been playing Texas Hold-Em since 2002, but was able to hold his nerve during the face-to-face showdown in Costa Rica following online heats which whittled 3,900 …

    Financial News 29 Sep 2005, 13:53

  • Does the ITU get the internet?

    World organisation's IP block on lock

    The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is angling for a wider role in running the internet, to the extent that it is hosting the WSIS meeting taking place in Geneva at the moment. Situated in the United Nations' Palais des Nations and just over the road from the ITU three-building complex, delegates from across the …

    Music and Media 29 Sep 2005, 13:56

  • eBay faces court over contact lens dispute

    Regards allegations as 'libellous'

    Ebay is facing legal action for allegedly "aiding and abetting" the sale of contact lenses via its website without the involvement of a qualified optician. The summons was prompted by the UK's General Optical Council (GOC) which is to argue that "eBay is responsible for preventing unsupervised sales of contact lenses via its …

    Financial News 29 Sep 2005, 14:17

  • NASA and Google to build research centre

    Project collaboration

    NASA and Google are to build a million-square-foot research centre at NASA's Research Park at Moffett Field, Silicon Valley. Initially, the two parties will collaborate on a number of projects including large-scale data management and "massively distributed computing". The work would also likely build on Google's Google Earth, …

    Science 29 Sep 2005, 14:34

  • Danes and Swedes fume over mobile 'bridge toll'

    The Great Divide

    Danes and Swedes living in the Øresund region are gnashing their teeth because mobile phone companies charge a 'bridge toll' for crossing the Sound of Øresund separating Denmark and Sweden. 3.6 million people live in an area that generates a quarter of the combined GDP of Sweden and Denmark, and many Danes and Swedes commute …

    Mobile 29 Sep 2005, 15:36

  • Gay Naval officer faces keelhauling

    Mr Gay UK contender ordered to withdraw

    The Navy has threatened to court martial a serving officer who is a finalist in the Mr Gay UK 2005. Richard Cowell, 25, is weapons engineer on Type-23 frigate HMS Northumberland. He's also Mr Plymouth and in the running for the UK's top gay male accolade - much to the chagrin of the Senior Service. Cowell has been ordered to …

    Bootnotes 29 Sep 2005, 15:51

  • Pipex streamlines channel offering

    Hokey gokei

    Pipex has tidied up its channel programme to help make life easier for resellers while hopefully boosting the UK ISP's revenues. Up until now each of Pipex's businesses - Nildram, Pipex Internet, Web Fusion, Donhost and 123-Reg.co.uk - has operated its own channel programme. Now that the company is integrating these …

    Telecoms 29 Sep 2005, 15:52

  • E*Trade to buy BrownCo for $1.6bn

    Online share dealings

    E*Trade Financial is blowing $1.6bn in cash to acquire BrownCo - the online brokerage service of JPMorgan Chase & Co. the addition of BrownCo's 200,000 customers will take the total number of E*Trade customer accounts to almost 4.3m. Together, the enlarged financial group will hold around $160bn in customer assets and customer …

    Financial News 29 Sep 2005, 15:57

  • Warner Music's Michael Nash - no executioner

    Reg oops

    In a story entitled Warners raises decapitation strategy for Apple, we wrongly attributed remarks about Apple's iTunes Music Store made during a panel discussion at the CTIA show to Warner Music senior vice president Michael Nash. These remarks were made by another panelist, Kenneth Hertz, partner at Goldring Hertz and …

    Music and Media 29 Sep 2005, 17:21

  • EMI recalls DRM-encumbered CD

    Over enthusiastic

    EMI has recalled a best-selling CD after it was inadvertently encumbered with over-zealous DRM. And Sony has recalled a web posting by one of the bands advising fans how to unbork the borked disc. Switchfoot's CD debuted at No.3 on the Billboard chart last week, but DRM prevented fans burning backups - or making copies of any …

    Software 29 Sep 2005, 21:32

  • Cingular brings BlackBerry to Nokia's commie

    At last

    Cingular is finally bringing Nokia's hit Communicator the 9300 to the US market, offering a price challenge to Palm and RIM. For the latter, it'll be the stiffest competition so far to its hardware business on its North American home turf. But equally, the 9300 is the most compelling device to carry RIM's BlackBerry Connect …

    Mobile 29 Sep 2005, 23:14

  • Crazy Frog emasculates Verisign earnings

    Ding ding ding ding dididing ... lower than expected outlook

    Verisign's ill-judged adventure into ringtones took a stumble today, as the company said it would miss its Q3 earnings targets. Verisign blamed the shortfall on having to abide with regulations on mobile content in Europe: regulations it has largely provoked through its own business practices. Verisign now expects its Q3 revenue …

    Financial News 29 Sep 2005, 23:16